Could a plant virus have found a way to infect humans?

It has always been assumed that plant viruses cannot infect animals, and vice versa, but plant viruses are known to be abundant in human faeces.

Now Didier Raoult at the University of the Mediterranean in Marseille, France, and his team think a pepper virus is making people sick, too.

They have found RNA from the pepper mild mottle virus in the faeces of 7 per cent of the 304 adults they tested. Those with the virus were more likely to report fever, abdominal pain and itching than those without it, his team found.